The Supreme Court struck down the Karnataka Civil Services (Validation of Selection and Appointment of 2011 Batch Gazetted Probationers) Act, 2022, according to LiveLaw and the Daily Pioneer, in reports published on October 30, 2026.
The court held that a legislature cannot directly annul a final judgment and that corruption and nepotism vitiated the 2011 selection.
It ordered fresh recruitment under existing rules, with a one-time age relaxation and seniority only from the new appointment date.
The years of earlier court rulings differ between reports, and the judgment text should be checked.
The state cancelled the recruitment in 2014, and the Karnataka High Court upheld the cancellation in 2018, according to the Daily Pioneer, while another report gives different years, so the dates differ between reports.
The Supreme Court later declined to interfere with the High Court’s decision, according to the Daily Pioneer.
The state enacted the validation law in 2022, and it was challenged in the Supreme Court, according to the same report.
The Karnataka government must now notify fresh recruitment for the vacant Group A and Group B posts under the existing rules, according to LiveLaw.
Candidates from the 2011 recruitment, including the appellants and those not found tainted, get a one-time age relaxation to compete in the new recruitment, according to the reports.
Anyone selected in the fresh recruitment gets seniority only from the date of the new appointment, with no back wages or notional appointment for earlier years, according to LiveLaw.
For current employees who are selected again, their earlier service counts towards pension and retirement benefits, according to the reports.
Appointments made under the struck-down law must end, according to the Daily Pioneer.
A validation law is a law passed to give legal effect to something that a court has found invalid, and courts decide whether it fixes the defect or only overrides the court.
Supreme Court of India (file image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
